Have you seen this man before?
By: Veraida-Lyn Bermejo
In the Montreal Filipino community, there are plenty of events to attend – pageants, dinner parties and concerts. You’ve been to so many that you see the same familiar faces over and over again but you can’t seem to point your finger as to where you’ve seen them before? One of those faces may has hosted various events such as Binibining Pilipinas Montreal, Little Miss Philbecan and Fil-Can Idol; you’ve probably caught him dancing Tinikling or balance on a bench a few feet off the ground; or open for the Piolo Pascual, Sam Milby and Pokwang concert with the Philippine National Anthem. That familiar face could very well be Neil Yapp. His appearance and name has circulated around the Filipino community over the last two to three years. So who is Neil Yapp?
Neil was born in Kingston, Jamaica, with a background of Chinese-Jamaican with German. He and his family moved to Toronto when he was 2 years old. He attended Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough and was a full active student – volleyball, dragon boat, year book, jazz choir and the president of student council. After attending York University, Neil moved to Montreal in October 2000 to attend Concordia University in Theological Studies and recently graduated with a Masters degree.
Not only was Neil active in school, he was also active with CFC-Youth for Chris and CFC- Singles for Christ. He was the head of special events for Gawad Kalinga and executive director for productions that headlined Filipino celebrities such as Louie Reyes and Joey Albert, whom he is now good friends with and by her request sang a duet for a Christmas concert that benefitted the Filipino Catholic Mission.
Neil started training in Philippine folk dance with Folklorico in Toronto. He was first introduced to Philippine folk dance by his grade 4 teacher who ran a lunch time cultural club. The first dance he learned was Binasuan and today, is notably one of Neil’s speciality dances. His training was short-lived because of conflicts in schedule and decided to focus on his leadership in YFC. In 2005, he regained his interest in folk dancing while looking for a group to participate in a GK concert in Montreal. He stumbled upon Salinggawi Philippine Arts Organization. It was Leticia Bulotano Wheeler, founder of Salinggawi, whom convinced him to join. He was inspired by the well trained dancers displaying their culture and was motivated to dance as well as them.
Through that awakening and studying Philippine folk dance – watching videos of other groups, researching and networking, Neil became a founding member of PAMANA ng LuzViMinda Folkloric Dance Company in 2005 and became the president in 2007. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish his 2 year term to move back to Toronto and work as the manager of Consumer Affairs at Maple Leaf’s Head Office. But he still keeps his relationship with PAMANA and continues his endeavour in Filipino folk dance with Fiesta Filipina Dance Troupe of Canada.
With a dynamic background, how did Neil ever find the time for acting? In PAMANA, Neil performed duo roles as dancer and actor in two of the company’s theatre incorporated productions.
